The top government official overseeing universal credit has told MPs he has full confidence in the National Audit Office (NAO), the public spending watchdog that recently published a savagely critical report into the welfare benefit.
Since it was published in June, current and former ministers have sought to undermine the report, which concluded that universal credit failed to deliver mooted savings and employment benefits, and left many claimants in hardship.
The permanent secretary at the Department for Work and Pensions, Peter Schofield, was asked by the public accounts committee chair, Meg Hillier, at an inquiry hearing into universal credit on Monday whether he had “full confidence” in the NAO report.
Schofield was initially evasive, saying it was a “strange question to ask me”. But pressed by Hillier, Schofield admitted: “Of course I have confidence in the NAO,” adding: “We have a very good relationship with the NAO.”
The statement comes after the work and pensions secretary, Esther McVey, tried to present the report as outdated, and claims by the political architect of universal credit, Iain Duncan Smith, that the NAO report was “a shoddy piece of work”.
McVey last week faced calls to resign after she after she admitted misleading parliament over the contents of the report. She wrongly claimed it said universal credit was working and that the rollout of the new benefit should be speeded up.
The NAO head, Sir Amyas Morse, took the unprecedented step of publishing a letter to McVey in which he pointed out that, on the contrary, the report made clear there was no evidence universal credit was working, and that ministers should ensure it was fit for purpose before rolling out further.
He added that the information used in the report was up to date, a point seemingly ratified by DWP officials who had signed off on the contents of the report – meaning they agreed it was factually accurate – just days before publication.
At Monday’s hearing, Schofield and his colleague, the universal credit director general, Neil Couling, also fielded questions about evidence that vulnerable claimants were pushed into poverty, debt and food bank use after signing on to universal credit.
They argued that the availability of cash advances to claimants to tide them over the minimum five-week waiting time for a first payment should protect them from hardship. Schofield described the advances as “a fantastic way of supporting people in need”.
When Tory MP Luke Graham suggested many poorer claimants might struggle to manage repayment of the advances, Couling replied that the average monthly repayment was £35. To cries of “outrageous” from some MPs, he added: “That’s not eye-wateringly large [an amount]”.
Meanwhile, official figures released on Monday show thousands of new claimants wait longer than the formal five-week target period for payment each month. One in six do not get payment in full and on time, DWP figures show.
Some claimants waited as long as two months without income in February, with an estimated 4,500 people not paid in full within 10 weeks of their initial claim and 2,300 people not paid in full within 14 weeks.
Margaret Greenwood, the shadow work and oensions secretary, said: “It is clear that that there are still major problems with the design and the delivery of universal credit as the National Audit Office highlighted recently. The government must pause the rollout of universal credit and fix the problems to prevent more people being pushed into poverty.”
A DWP spokesperson said: “The majority of claimants are comfortable managing their money but we are increasing support to help people who need it to stay on top of their payments. Up to 100% benefit advances and direct rent payments to landlords can be provided.
“We also recently removed the seven-day waiting period from new claims and will be paying people’s housing benefit for two weeks while they wait for their first full universal credit payment.”
